Setting a terrifying precedent for the future treatment of Tibetan refugees, Nepal handed over 18 Tibetan refugees to Chinese embassy officials in Kathmandu on Saturday. The 18 Tibetans were then forcibly deported back to Tibet.

An eyewitness to the deportation reported that the Tibetan refugees desperately screamed for help when the Nepalese soldiers loaded them into the van to drive them to the border. He also reported that after the Nepalese soldiers returned from the Chinese controlled side of the “Friendship Bridge” between Tibet and Nepal with a box of brandy after handing the prisoners over to the Chinese security forces. One Nepalese police officer told a bystander that this was a gift from the Chinese officials.

Please take action immediately! Tell the Nepalese government that the international community will not condone such treatment of refugees.